Federov - Staying in Detroit?!

[TOMGUNNER]

Report: Wings offer Fedorov $40-million


TSN.ca Staff



5/20/2003

The Detroit Red Wings and forward Sergei Fedorov are reportedly close to signing a new deal said to be worth $40-million over the next four years.



Red Wings general manager Ken Holland would not comment on the report but Fedorov's agent Pat Brisson says he's optimistic a deal can be reached before the July 1 free agency deadline.



"We aren't close, but we aren't far apart, either," Brisson tells the Detroit Free Press. "It's like if we were going from Los Angeles to Paris. We aren't in New York. We're somewhere over the ocean."



Sources tell the newspaper that Brisson is looking for a longer term deal and that incentives and option years have yet to be finalized.





"There's still a lot of time left, and Sergei likes it there," said Brisson. "It's not like he's leveraging to leave. He's spent 13 years there."



Fedorov turned down a five year, $50-million offer during the regular season.



The current offer would put Fedorov inline with defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom, who is the highest paid player on the Red Wings at $10.5-million a season.

[lapniappe]

if Federov turned down a 5/50 mill deal why would he leap up for the chance for a 4/40 mill deal?

on the FAN590, it was specualted that the offer was made to ward off the Leafs, Rangers and Stars for making offers towards Federov July 1st.

but again if he's turning down 50 million dollars; how much money and years does he want?!

[Leafs_Pam]

TOMGUNNER said:

"We aren't close, but we aren't far apart, either," Brisson tells the Detroit Free Press. "It's like if we were going from Los Angeles to Paris. We aren't in New York. We're somewhere over the ocean."

This is the same thing Nabokov's Agent and the Sharks said about Nabby. It took until November (I think it was close to the end of Nov) to sign him. Once Nabby was signed, they admitted they were farther apart than they had first said.

Federov probably will accept a deal with the Wings. This is the same kind of threat/holdoff they pulled with Federov last time his contract was up for renewal. Frankly I would rather get two defensemen for the Leafs than Federov. DMen are needed more than another Forward.

[TOMGUNNER]

I've said this since the start of the NHL season, and I'm sticking to it.....

I think Federov wants to see what Yzerman, McCarty, Draper, Hull and Chelios are doing! IF these guys retire, Sergei will not want to play on a re-building team.

With the before mentioned guys as well as Shanahan, Lidstrom and Cujo all on the brink of retirement, Federov knows that the team will struggle for a fairly long time. 3-5 years?!

I would not be shocked, if he's looking for a 1 year deal...for next season only.

Just my opinion!